Like a Bird

 

I ate like a bird. Lost 21 pounds and now I am singing.   I want to lose 8 more pounds, but I doubt I'll be able to do it by my birthday like I had hoped.

I just have to brag a little bit now.  Our two year old grandson, Caleb is doing really well with his bicycle. So well, that I really want to show you.  But I can't get the video to attach here, so will have to figure that out and post it later.  

I hope and pray that you'll have a great week, now that you've lived through Monday.

Scout Day At the Farm

 

For a city kid, visiting a farm is a really cool adventure...and that's true of all of us 'big kids' as well.  I recently got to experience this type of activity myself and  still enjoy seeing God's creativity.

School Field Trip and Photo Shoot

 

The triplets have lots of opportunity to be with others their own age. Not only do they have church friends and   their home school group, but they are involved in many activities, such as scouts, Chinese class, basketball and theater.

Early in April, they went with other home schoolers to  Cannonsburgh in Murfreesboro, TN, for an outing.

Chelle used the opportunity for a photo shoot.  The kids were in a cooperative mood and she got lots of good pictures...which always make me, the grandmother very happy.  

I would recommend home schooling to anyone who is not quite satisfied with the education his/her children are getting in public school today.  I would fist suggest a private school, but if that is out of the question, then home schooling is a good solution. I didn't say perfect, for nothing measures up to perfection...but it is a very good alternative.  I'm saying this as a teacher who once taught in public school and was happy with most of the teachers who taught along side me.  However, educators hands are tied.They are no longer permitted to discipline the students and without that, there is really not much learning. Add the fact that everything is being dumbed down so that no one has to suffer a loss of ego and it is a losing proposition.  I must say...this is my opinion from what I've seen lately. If your situation in your school is different,, good for your family.  There are not many such schools today.

Spring Swing

 

Nothing better than grand children.  Hope you are enjoying spring as much as this little one is.

Early Blooms

This picture was taken on April 12, so today the flowering around here is more advanced. The azaleas below this dogwood are also in full bloom. My clematis is  blooming as well.  And my favorite peonies are budding nicely.  

God has blessed us with the natural beauty of spring and we are enjoying it to the utmost.

While God blesses us, He sometimes allows bad things to happen to us that we might learn of Him and become stronger in our faith. 

For example, we have a man in the White House right now. We are to love him and respect his office and pray for him. But we  can know that he does not belong there. It has been proven over and over that he is not an Natural born American.  All evidence shows he is a foreigner (faked birth certificate, college ID, social security number, and evidence from Kenya). 

I do know that if Satan has done this to us, God has allowed it. I pray  we can, through Bible study and loving God's word, please our father God and He will save our nation.

Aussie

Those of us who like to take pictures enjoy it even more when our subjects cooperate.  Aussie was in a congenial mood  on Easter and actually posed for his mom's camera.  Good looking guy, if you ask my opinion.  

In the news:  there is lots of money flying around the country now to fix the election.  So where does it all come from? One should wonder, especially when someone or group is spending $60 million  against the governor of a state... a small one like Wisconsin.   Obama's buddies evidently think Governor Walker is a big threat to the president's plan to bankrupt our country.

Come election day, let's all get out and show them that money might talk loud, but it can't buy our votes!

Vote Republican...because it is not socialist.

Pump It Up

At 2 years old, Caleb already owes a big chunk of money to China.  Being in debt is bondage.  We want to return to our free country where indeed we are free to decide how we  will spend our money, speak our minds, travel freely, choose our own doctors and whether or not we want to eat a hamburger and fries.

This debt problem is not a black/white issue, not a male/female issue, not and old/young issue, not a rich/poor issue, not a thin/fat issue, not a religious issue.  It affects EVERYONE of every race, sex, age, religious persuasion and financial condition.   

Caleb had nothing to do with this debt and honestly, most of us didn't either. It can be attributed to political figures who care not about the debt because they are spending 'other people's money.... yours and mine to be exact. You would think however that it would trouble them to be running up trillions of dollars in debt that their own children will have to help repay.

Artists at Work

Yes, Easter has passed, but  I couldn't pass up  a layout of the triplets  coloring their eggs. I remember so well coloring them as a child and as a mother.  Have missed out on it as a grandmother. .. may just color some 'old lady' eggs next year.  That is if we can afford to buy eggs next year. Who knows, those in charge of feeding the masses may decide that we don't need eggs at all.  After all, they do have cholesterol...

Meanwhile, but to the present...and a rebuttal of the doomsdayer's claim that polar bears in the Arctic are declining as a result of global warming.

It so happens that not only are their populations not declining, but they are increasing in number.

In the federal territory of Canada, called Nunavut, they've found larger numbers of the bears.

"The bear population is not in crisis as people believed, " said Drikus Gissing, Nunavut's director of wildlife management.  "There is no doom and gloom."
He added that the media in Canada have led people to believe that polar bears are endangered, but "they are not."

He estimated that there are about 25,000 polar bears in Canada's Arctic region, and "that's likely the highest [number] there has ever been."

Bible in School

Seldom do we get a picture as good as this featured one of the triplets. It is great when they cooperate. I like the full shot of them in this wooded area as well.  It was a great day for pictures and because  of that, a day the triplets and  their family will remember for many years.  

We are so blessed that these kids are home schooled in a Christian home.  If they were in public story, their education would fall short, since their whole lives are based on God's word.  Denying children the right to speak of their God in school is denying their very spirit.

The governor of Arizona knows the importance of Bible study in the school as did our founding fathers. The Bible is now to be reintroduced to the classroom in that state.  Just this week, Arizona's governor, Jan Brewer signed the bill into law that treats the Bible as an historical book that deserves study in the classroom. Students will learned the information in the Old and New Testaments, the history that is recorded in them and the influence that the book has had on law, literature, art, music and cultural values.

Why that would be a controversial might be explained in our utter departure from the truth and an attempt to hide from our God. 

Glowing Eggs

Whether or not I'm putting any valuable opinions on this blog, so far I'm trying to keep my goal of posting every day.  Okay, so it may not save the world, or even $$$, but I'm getting it done one way or another.

If you didn't try this trick with the glow sticks this year, you may want to do this next year.

Caleb's Easter

 I am so blessed to get so many good pictures of the grandchildren even though I can't  visit in person with them on every holiday. Beth took these pictures 11 days ago and I've had them since then.  But I just  finished the layouts earlier today.

I would have loved being there in Colorado to hear the excitement in the air, but this is the next best thing.

We just got home from seeing The Adam's Family musical in Cleveland. It was quite funny and I enjoyed the parts I didn't sleep through.

No deep comments tonight... think I must have left my brain somewhere today.  Hope to find it in the morning.  And I pray everyone finds his/ her own before the election.

Brothers

Having even more serious computer problems, so I'll publish this picture only in case the machine quits before I can finish. If there is more run time, I'll try to write a little later.

Nice Shots

I'm so glad that Chelle took a class in photography. I really wish I would take the time to do the same.
It's  very fulfilling to see ones children do well.  I love this picture looking down at Ashley. It is flattering.

I suppose all of you have heard of the Secret Service adventures in Columbia. It is difficult for me to not be skeptical when it comes to this administration.  All I can think of is,'what is Obama up to?'  He's caused a raucous to take our attention off him and whatever he is up to now.  We must always be careful when something like this pops up, knowing that something more devious is lurking in the shadows.

What could it be?  I don't know....yet.

Artsy Easter Eggs

Chelle has been teaching art this year at the academy.  Recently, she's been teaching two art  classes. The triplets have profited from that.  Here they are with their cut out Easter eggs. Very cool!  

It paid off for me  to go to a Tea Party Tax Day fRally or the city of Akron.  The meeting actually took place in Cuyahoga Falls. I'm not sure why it is named the Akron Tea Party unless it is to irk their Mayor Plusquellic.  He is easily provoked and not thought highly of, especially by Conservatives.  

One of the main speakers was an Oxford educated black, Theodore Wilson II.  He is brilliant, tells it like it is, but does it kindly. He’s very polished and I’d love to talk to him.  

 We  finally put our names on paper. We are officially Tea Party members.  I took a few pictures, but haven't had time to look at them. I hope to do that within the next couple of days and perhaps make a layout for the blog.

Lady Bug, Lady Bug

Is there anything more dear than a child with a innocent curiosity about everything?  Caleb here is studying the lady bug.  I imagine he will come across  fine specimens of all the insects this year after the mild winter. Insects should be plentiful this summer.

It is marvelous  the way our weather is first warm, then cold, dry and then wet. There is no one weather pattern that man can  precisely predict.  The moment they think they know exactly what the weather will be, they are setting themselves up for upset.  I'm not sure if God does it on purpose to show man he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does, or what.  I do know that weather data has been kept for many, many years and still no one can come up with an exact science for predicting weather for tomorrow, let alone trends that will hold true for years to come.  

NASA has gotten itself into bad light recently when the agency included unproven and unsupported remarks concerning global warming, particularly that carbon dioxide is the major cause of 'climate change'.

Forty-nine well respected former NASA astronauts, engineers and scientists are not remaining mum. They have accused the top executives of NASA with Charles Bolden at the helm, of using that agency to push global warming, which has not been proven.

It is bad enough that the media (brain washed by alarmist professors in journalism school) and teachers (taught by socialist professors in the universities) are out there day to day trying to shove this non-science down the throats of everyone in an attempt to cripple our country's economy with legislation.

Catching Up at Lunch

Girls just want to have lunch.  At least that was our plan for Friday...lunch and some catching up with those who had been away for the winter.  

Nice Catch

After fighting  obstacles on his fishing  trip, things finally turned around and Tim had the best results ever.

Here is an example of his catch.  I'm really glad to get to post this after that of April 4. His face it so much brighter.  Congratulations, Tim.  Nice catch.

I don't understand the desire to sit in a boat for hours while pulling in fish.  But I do respect a man who likes  to fish and 'works' at it.

I also respect women who stay at home with their children, especially when they really could use a little more money coming in to the coffers. It is a big job to raise children.  I know, because I did it myself. I experienced teaching school only, teaching school while having children at home, and staying home with as many as 5 children.  There are only 24 hours in a day.  A mother can generally fill all but a few sleeping hours, whether or not she leaves the house for a job. I really feel for the mothers who deem it necessary to work outside the home.  After they work all day away, they must come home and work more. And they miss all the milestones along the way... a child's first step, first words, etc. I respect that all women must make tough decisions.  Republicans respect women.  While that is not always the case in the Democratic camp.

Hillary Rosen (Democrat spokesperson) said that Romney's wife, Ann, had never worked a day in her life. Of course, Hillary has no way to know that.  And since Ann raised 5 children, I seriously doubt that.  

While  disrespecting  a large number of women, the Obama  administration has bulldozed the economy so that many, many jobs have been lost since he became president...the way biggest majority of which have been jobs for women.  Do they lose respect of the Democrats when they lose their jobs?  

A Bike for a Two Year Old

This Gramma, as most others in the past, I suppose,  is having trouble keeping up with what is going on in the world.  I'm so surprised to see Caleb, who is only 26 months old riding a bicycle.  The first  thing I noticed was the absence of training wheels.  However, I did see that there are no pedals and that both his feet reach the ground. Evidently this is a clever new way to teach him balance. I took these still shots from a video where he was flying around the patio with great control. I would imagine, he will be able to go straight from this bike to a larger one without those old training wheels...and without the fear of loosing his balance.  At least I hope that is the way this works. 

And let's not lose our balance...the balance of power.  Our democratic Republic was built with three separate branches...the executive, the legislative and the judicial, for the purpose of balancing power.  When any one branch oversteps it's boundaries, the government is thrown out of balance and things start whirling out of control.  For example, when the president (executive) branch puts pressure on either the legislative branch (Congress) or the judicial branch ( Supreme Count) to do what he wants done, the balance can be thrown off and the whole system can be thrown out of kilter.  It can die an even quicker death if  the president goes around or over the other branches and does whatever his little heart desires without regard for their rulings.   There is a provision in the system for correcting this.  That man, or woman, can be Impeached and stripped of power.  

It may not be soon enough to prevent great damage, but it is never too late to start proceedings.

Easter Hams

We've talked about the trials of capturing a good group photo of young triplets. But somehow, I have become fond of these crazy pictures that are the result of the triplets trying to circumvent their mother's plans to get  great poses .  I am especially amused by  the hams they have become over the years.  It must be all the stage training that gives them such personality.

Speaking of personalities,  in the news:  Allen West is on record saying that Obama is afraid to debate him. I wish the president would prove him wrong and step up to the plate. I would love to see and hear that debate!

Don't forget to petition God daily for the safety of our nation from those beyond our borders and from  those already in our states causing turmoil.  And especially pray that  those who have managed to win political offices will be restrained by the hand of God, if that is what it takes.

Prayer for Our Nation

We are very proud of our grandson, Mason. He has placed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and he gave his life to him this Easter Sunday, as did his dad many years ago, and his brother did last year.   He was obedient to the scriptures on baptism, one of which is Acts 22:16: "And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name."

Mason has a sweet heart and his desire is to one day own a restaurant and to help the poor.

We are thankful for the triplet's parents, their church  and their home school organization. Without such good backing, children don't have much chance since the public schools are generally a breeding ground for sinful lives, apart from God. Then they go home to TV, which often is even worse.

Following is a prayer that has recently been attributed to Billy Graham, but actually goes back to 1996 to the Reverend Joe Wright of the Central Christian Church in Wichita, when he delivered the opening prayer at a session of the Kansas House of Representatives. In my opinion, it grows more descriptive of our  world each day. Read it and see what I mean.

Prayer For Our Nation

'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness  

and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says,  

'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have  

done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our  

values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We  

have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our  

unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called  

it justifiable... We have neglected to discipline our children and  

called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it  

politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it  

ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography  

and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time- 

honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.  

Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from sin  

and set us free. Amen!'

I pray the Lord hears our plea and blesses us once again with 'One nation under God!'

Walking the Dog

Beth is a great mother and this is how she says to take the dog and a two year old for a walk.  Looks like it is working just fine.

Changing the subject... In my opinion, the NRA Chief is correct when he says the 2012 Election will be the "most dangerous in our lifetime."  I couldn't say it better than what you can read on Newsmax:

Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, warns that President Barack Obama intends to "destroy the Second Amendment" during his second term and "end our freedom forever." LaPierre delivered a rousing speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, and the text of his speech has been published in the April issue of "America’s 1st Freedom," the official journal of the NRA. Asserting that the Second Amendment is the "heart and soul" of America, LaPierre says: "Our soul is at stake in this election. This campaign is a fight for our country, our values, and the freedom we believe in. "All of our Second Amendment liberty, all of the rights we’ve worked so hard to defend, all of what we know is good and right about America — all of it could be lost if Barack Obama is re-elected." LaPierre predicts that on the campaign trail Obama will point out to voters that he has not pursued an anti-gun agenda during his first term, but that was a "political calculation" aimed at NRA supporters and gun owners who might oppose him in his re-election bid. Obama’s strategy, he says, is to "get re-elected and, with no more elections to worry about, get busy dismantling and destroying our firearm freedom. Erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights and excise it from the U.S. Constitution." During his second term Obama would likely appoint from one to three Supreme Court justices, and three more liberal justices will mean "the end of our freedom forever," LaPierre declares. He concludes: "If you don’t remember anything else I say today, write this down: This is the most dangerous election in our lifetime. If Obama wins, we’ll go to our grave mourning the freedom we’ve lost. "This is our time, our election to rise up and fight for our rights. We will defend our nation because we must. We will prevail!" To read the rest of this Newsmax  email, click here to view it as a web page. Let's pray for each other and our nation.

I'd Rather Be Fishing

I'm hoping I get a better picture or two later of  successful fishing. This had to be frustrating. It's not like he gets to go fishing every day.  He looks forward to these trips and to have all this trouble surely 'dampens' it.  Oh by the way, this is Tim, our son-in-law. I surely do appreciate him and wish him the best.

Tim, who works very hard and is a good citizen, deserves a good vacation.  However I'm a little peeved at the 'vacations' we are providing for illegal aliens in detention.  The facilities are more recreational that prison like.

The new $30 million Karnes County Civil Detention Center near San Antonio, Texas, which complies with the new standards for illegal confinement, features a library with free internet access, cable TV, an indoor gym, soccer fields, and a beach volleyball court.  

Oh, and they do not have guards, but unarmed 'resident advisers' to patrol the grounds.  Now, believe it or not, the detainees are often very violent because of the rule to only arrest the worst of the worst.  Others are running the streets free.  Don't you feel better knowing we aren't trying to give all of these people Sheraton like quarters while our own schools are cutting back funds for physical education classes because money is so tight?

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said  the administration's new manual for detaining illegals "reads more like a hospitality guideline for illegal immigrants."

In my opinion, any illegal who breaks a law after initially breaking the law by entering the country, should be deported within a week.  And that includes Obama's African relatives.

April was home for her birthday.  She and I were on our own during the day, so we shared a pecan crusted chicken salad at Friday's and then went shopping...our kind of shopping...looking for bargains. Of course our first stops are the discount stores. Here is April at Marshall's. Naturally, the cut ups that we are, we find and point out the really strange  pieces we see.  She is wearing sunglasses with...yes...those are chains  hanging from the edges of the frames. We couldn't figure the purpose of these other than to get attention for being weird. However good they looked on her, we didn't buy them, but left them so others could enjoy a laugh.

After I got the picture on the computer, I discovered another use for these big lenses.  They can be used for applying makeup without scrounging around in your purse for a mirror. One problem is, the cameraman cannot remain anonymous with his reflection in those mammoth windows.

Many of us like to remain in the shadows, but hiding behind these glasses is not the solution!

Those who write letters to the editor of their local papers must sign their names. Many would rather die. I really appreciate those who step out and say something when things go wrong.

I liked this following letter I clipped from the Akron Beacon Journal this morning.  It may not have been from today's paper, since I tend to catch up on the papers two or three days at a time.

I will quote it word  for word in order to not chance changing it's meaning in any way. It is well written.

"In response to Marina Pelemis' March 30 letter, 'Understand atheism,' I would like to point out to her as she denounces God because of a lack of evidence, that 'scientific proof' is hypothetic, deductive reasoning, a tentative answer, a theory.  Life is not material.  God gave his children, the self-proclaimed atheists included, life.  Wake up and smell the Christianity."  Lisa Ayers    Akron

Red Heads

Okay, I couldn't resist naming this Red Heads. I'm not sure why the stage lights made everyone's hair red. The triplets all have red hair here,  and I  lost mine this week.  Well not really, but April put highlights in my hair, so the base is still the same...a slight reddish darker color it has turned as I grew older.

After she had finished, she commented that she may have to put a toner on it because it was soooo light. When I first saw it wet, I agreed that it was way too blond.  But when I'd showered and dried it,  I thought it was really quite nice...so now I'm a blond.  I'll let you know if blonds really have more fun. It might be true, because I have been having quite a good time this last two days.  :)

Oh and actually Aussie, second portrait from left, does have my color of hair.  At least it is the hue I had at his age...strawberry blond.  So, technically, he is a redhead.  In these pictures though his isn't any redder than the others.

Talk about being red... Being a red at one time meant one was a communist.  Well, in my mind it still is and we now have one in the White House and several more scattered around Congress and the courts.  Kruschev said they would bury us (November 18, 1956 ) and looks like their  plan is coming to fruition. In my opinion, the only thing that can save us now is turning back to God and praying earnestly that He will deliver us from the turmoil the left has in store for this nation.

Hard Rock Cafe

My layout tonight stars Pat and Lauren on spring break, just passing by the Hard Rock Cafe on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.

Back to a school term, coming shortly to a grand finish, Lauren may be coming home soon for the summer, because of grades good enough to skip finals.  I'm not sure when they started that, but wish they had while I was in college.  No such luck for us.

Opinion time: Have you heard our president's apparent threat against the Supreme Court?  It was a power squeeze if nothing else. He belittled them in a public message aimed at getting his way relating to  Obamacare.  It didn't come off well and made him sound like a schoolyard bully, it you ask me.  Of course no one did.  But I have the prerogative of expressing my opinions whenever and however I wish. This is still a free country.  And it will be as long as we don't allow those who would run roughshod over us hold public office. Which brings us to the election in November.

Do we want a big bully in our school yard?  I don't think so. Let's elect a civil, good hearted person, devoid of an agenda that would bury us. Pray that we survive this presidency without him staging a national emergency with the march on wall street crowd, and then mandating  a state of emergency and takes full control.

It's time we start calling all his efforts by their true name, which is Communism.

If you hadn't noticed, I missed blogging yesterday.  Computer problems again. Wish I had a tech mind.  

It is a good thing I don't get paid for this...more than the satisfaction on doing it.  

The triplets had guests last Friday night and each one made his/her own ice cream creation.  Ashley had a cone  with a few sprinkles. Mason had chocolate ice cream with loads of whipped cream.  Aussie loaded up on chocolate.  

I used a freebie kit by Retrodiva  called Love Me and the Times New Romance font. 

My opinion:  We must to be well informed as we go to our voting booths in the fall.  We, as voters, need to know the Constitution well enough to get through the latest attacks on it by our president and his staff of czars.   There is a quick and free way to brush up on it here:  

It is necessary to  study what the candidates say and do. Do your part.  The life of our country and the prosperity it provides for it's citizens is at stake.  We could once again be a free and prosperous citizenship, or we can lose every bit of freedom we enjoy and live a third world existence under a dictator.   One whose willingness to go above, around and far beyond the law, has been proven.

I'm praying for our country and for each of you.  God bless you all.

Caleb spied the ants while blowing bubbles.   I found it funny to think it could be him watching them and or they could be watching him.  Obviously the ants were too small to show up in the picture, so I put in some cartoon bugs to tell the story.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm living in a cartoon.  Years ago, I would have thought the things some politicians are saying now was funny.  Ridiculously funny.  Yet, as they are presently saying and doing these strange things, it isn't striking me funny, but frightening.

Be sure to watch Sarah Palin host the Today Show on NBC Tuesday morning.

Palin on NBC

Lauren and Pat, still on spring break when these pictures were taken,  got several shots here with  Santa Monica  Pier in the background.   I really enjoyed doing this layout with the soft colors of the seascape and my favorite font, Scriptina. I used the Scrapgirls collection SeaGlass by Amanda Sok (Fraijio -Tobin).

I have an opinion about the Today show on NBC.  The only morning show on TV in this house is on the Fox News channel. Does that tell you what I think of NBC?  

I don't even watch our favorite channel in the morning, but do walk by now and then and enjoy a few minutes. 

But Tuesday, I'll be watching NBC Today.  Why?  Because Sarah Palin will be at the helm there that  day.  I understand that Katy Couric, the host for that program ,will be on ABC that day instead.  Therefore, she and Sarah Palin will be going head to head. I would love to see NBC ratings soar that day. Hope you will be watching as well.